The thing I keep thinking of, at a moment when caring about other people seems to be seen as some sort of liability, is my favorite passage from “A Wrinkle in Time.”

“But that’s exactly what we have on Camazotz. Complete equality. Everybody exactly alike.”

For a moment her brain reeled with confusion. Then came a moment of blazing truth. “No!” she cried triumphantly. “Like and equal are not the same thing at all!”

WhenI first read that, years ago, it struck me as a true thing, one of the truest things in the book. It’s still true. Like and equal are not the same thing. We don’t have to be alike. But we are still equal. And we, all of us, should be treated that way and should treat others that way.